Closing Down. Time for Change.
Sunday, May 5, 2013 at 9:14PM 
Early 2010, I started putting some 'entrepeneurial' dreams into action. I opened the virtual doors of Scissors Paper Rock Designs. What had started as a few ideas with a good friend; changed direction...and a business that was all my own started to surface. At the time, I was working 3 days a week teaching and I was not only looking for another way to bring in an extra income {while staying home part-time with 2 year old Ella} but also a way to flex my creative muscles. I've always been one to create, to design, to make. And I've always been one who likes to be in control and aim high. In March 2010, the essence of Scissors Paper Rock was brought to life.
What started originally as a clunky self-built website, slowly evolved overtime to become a pretty good little business.
In those early days - Scissors Paper Rock was a custom invitation and eco-friendly gift provider. Yep! Have many of my readers been around long enough to remember those posts? The ones where my time was filled with paper and card and ribbon?! It was fun! I actually LOVED the process of making invitations for people's special events. It was timely but enjoyable. Over a short period of time; I built up a lovely client list and a huge portfolio of designs - from kid's parties, to weddings, to Christenings, to Beerfests!
I worked around the clock in 2010! And although I look back thinking that year must have been exhausting - I actually remember it being quite the opposite. I was on a constant-adrenalin-rush that was fueled by my urge to build my business. I was teaching 3 days a week, spending every spare second with Ella - crafting and baking and exploring. I was dancing and writing and working til crazy hours of the morning each and every night doing invitations and giftware. I loved it!
At this time Chris was also working HUGE hours starting up his own fulltime business. We were both on missions. Money was scarce, sleep was minimal, yet our goals were fierce. I also think a lot of our drive was also coming from a desire to 'fix' things and regain some normalcy after the crazy year that 2009 was!
I spent time and money trialing products, and coming up with new ideas. Some bloomed. Others not. But things kept moving on and up. I was full of hope and inspiration.
By mid-year, I had started to work out where my business was succeeding and where it was failing. Around this time, we got a new large screen iMac. I loved how clear the screen was and started using it to edit my photos, and better design my invitations. I did a daylong session with an Adobe specialist who taught me some ins and outs of design programs and later that night I mucked around with the Adobe Illustrator program and accidentally started designing wall prints. I say accidentally - because I truly started doing them one night as an experiment and then got addicted.
The direction of Scissors Paper Rock started to change.
I researched inspirational quotes and words. I sourced a local professional printer. I priced materials and options. I continued to read, learn and practice with my softwares. I then bit the bullet and opened a MadeIt store....selling my newly designed prints.
To my surprise, they sold well. Really well. I got great feedback.
So, night after night once Ella was tucked into bed, I'd design new prints, play with ideas and fulfil custom orders. Again, always fueled by this new venture - a sense of hope and a buzz of excitement. I had found a new drive that I was lacking. I was loving every moment.
Over the next 18 months, my business grew organically in size. Things were always in motion, work was always coming in, orders always going out. I was making contacts, chasing exposure deals, collecting wholesalers, paying bills. I finally got to a stage where my self-made website was no longer coping with the nature & size of my business and a better checkout system was created. Some of my prints made it into several well-known magazines and I was constantly getting asked to submit print designs for online and print magazine callouts. Although, I was still a small business - I felt quite proud of what I had created. And I still am.
And blogging? My blog was an extension of my business right from Day One. It was originally a blog that showcased party-related topics {party planners, party themes, colour inspirations etc} - it was a way for me to link in my invitation designs to what was hot and popular and current. {we're talking pre-Pinterest days here!} And every now and then; I would throw in a post that allowed me to write - really write! About anything from tea, to something 2yr old Ella had said, to what we did on the weekend. Naturally, my blog became more and more a keepsake journal about us and our life and less about other businesses and that indistry. By early 2011 my blog was known as a "Mummy Blog" more than a 'Business Blog', and I liked it like that. I was writing again - and that brought me so much happiness.
And now? Now, we're in May 2013 - Scissors Paper Rock has been a trading business for over 3 years and like all retail/design businesses it's grown and slumped, grown and slumped. I've ridden out the waves - the waves that peaked and the white wash mush. I've changed styles and direction {several times}. I've gone through periods of working hard and pushing the boundaries to letting it sit still and stagnant. I'e sealed many postage tubes with pride and love and gratefulness and sent my designs off into the world. My business has funded little projects, helped charities and contributed to our family's life.
I've done all this while balancing the role of a working-mum, and then a stay-at-home-mum. I've built a business around sleepless babies as well as the usual busy-ness of life. I've continued 'working' through new pregnancies, babies, health issues, lifestyle changes, job and career moves and more.
And now, now it's time to stop. To change. To move on.
Yep, this long-winded post was a really looooong way to say this......
Scissors Paper Rock is closing down.
I feel with everything I'm trying to balance at the moment, my little business is the thing that needs to go. I have been toying with this notion since late last year, and have now, in May, decided it's time!
Writing is my passion. Designing prints and posters is something I love and have taken a lot of enjoyment from over the past 3 years. But it's time I focus on my main passions - and that is my family and my writing.
I want to savour these fleeting days of being a Mum to little ones. Time is whizzing by - and I am already mourning them being so small and delicious and dependant. I don't want my memories of being a Mama of little ones; to be a flash of me being too busy and too stressed to actually enjoy any of it. This isn't the case - I have purposely tried to savour the little things, cherish both the bad and good times and be present in important moments. But lately - with life getting busier, and children growing up, I'm feeling like I am trying to juggle too many parts of me.
So, something had to give!
On May 15th, the Scissors Paper Rock website will be taken offline, it's Facebook page will undergo changes and inevitably go offline {with a new one for solely my blog} AND....this blog will take on a new URL.
Yes, this blog will still exist. I will still write about my motherly ramblings and share my life and thoughts openly.....but it's time for a new name, a fresh blog space. I have carried ALL of my posts from this blog over to the new blog {I was not willing to lose 4 years of writing}, so you will notice NO difference in content or interior links. But the new blog address will mean there will be broken subscription links here and there for those who have subscribed and joined my RSS feeds......I'm trying to avoid too much disruption but of course, like any change - things break, things require difference and things need eliminating.
My new blog will have the same content but hopefully a new feel. A fresh slate to write and share and connect. I'm excited! I hope you are too!
What will I be doing now that Scissors Paper Rock no longer exists? I will be focusing on my career as an Author. I am pouring my heart and soul into my first book launch. I am also finishing 3 other manuscripts in the hope that the publishing dream continues. I want to travel to schools and libraries and children's centres as a presenting Author. I want to share my passion and my world, and my love of children's fiction.
I want to write. Write for you, write for me, write for my family. Simply write.
I will continue to chase freelance opportunities; with my articles submissions and column contributions. I want to support my family through a life of writing.
Yep, basically, I will be a fulltime writer. And more importantly....a fulltime Mother!
So...on that note.....keep posted for when this blog site will disappear from the blogosphere and when my new one {CLAIRE EVER AFTER} will go live. And.....use this opportunity to BUY SOME PRINTS...because on May 15th, they will no longer be available.
I will continue to make and upload free printable designs and maybe list some for sale on my blog from time to time. But Scissors Paper Rock as we know it....is coming to an end.
A huge decision on my behalf, one that I've given A LOT of thought - but one that feels right - right for me, my family and my future.
Thank you to SO MANY OF YOU who have supported my business by ordering from me, sharing my links, giving my prints as gifts and spreading the positive message that Scissors Paper Rock was! I do appreciate it, and look back over the past few years with so much happy reflection and pride!
Please stay in touch and up to date. On Facebook I have my AUTHOR PAGE and soon I will create the page for my new blog; Claire Ever After.
I hope you continue to read my words and follow my bloggy journey,.... and support my career as an Author. xx
Mwah.
